I don’t consider myself a horse racing aficionado by any means, but I can’t help but love watching horse racing in person… and photographing it! In honor of the Preakness tomorrow, I decided to post some of my favorite horse racing pictures. These were all taken at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans. I haven’t been to many tracks, but I was so impressed with Fair Grounds each time I visited. The place is impeccably clean. The tack…
Last week, I wrote about some of the struggles I faced when I shot horse shows professionally. There was a lot of great discussion in the comments, some surprised and some understanding. As with anything though, there are two sides to the story. Today I hope to talk about the competitor’s needs and frustrations with equine photography as it stands today. Believe it or not, just owning my fancy camera setup does not mean I get good quality photographs from…
If you’ve ever been to a horse show at almost any level, there’s a good chance that you’ve experienced an equine photographer. They come with all different levels of equipment, professionalism and skill. The good ones are a rare mix of photography skills, equestrian sport knowledge and an artistic eye. The business of equine photography seems to be in a strange and dangerous place right now. Photographers complain about rising costs, stolen photos, and fewer orders while show goers complain…
I bet I wasn’t the only one who didn’t really know that “big eq” and the Maclay Medal Finals was a really big deal before the Horse Power TV series on Animal Planet. Since I didn’t grow up showing on any type of hunter/jumper (or any) circuit, I had no idea of the big eq world. Even when I did figure out the big eq existed, the classes weren’t usually big in NC and we don’t even have a decent 3’6″…
I am a total sucker for a colored sporthorse. That doesn’t mean I don’t love my plain bay Thoroughbred, but if it’s flashy… I adore it. Bonus points for spots. Triple bonus points for palomino. One day… one day I will have a palomino hunter, and it will be beautiful. Anyway, WEF is a sea of bays. Even a chestnut or a gray stands out among the grays, but I did find some color few and far in-between. I’m sure there’s a…
Maybe this is the case at all the big horse shows… it probably is. Remember, I show locally and my A/AA experience is just as a bystander at mostly regional A shows. Before I visited WEF, the biggest show I’d ever watched was the Duke Children’s Classic in my hometown of Raleigh, NC. At Duke there were lots of amazing horses, but I don’t remember scrim sheets. WEF has tons of amazing fashion and beautiful horses, but I swear the…
For each week during the Winter Equestrian Festival, there is a “Saturday Night Light” class that is open to the public and hosts a big show jumping (usually) or occasional hunter class. These vary in difficulty and prize money, and every year I’ve previously visited I’ve been lucky enough to go for the $500k WEF Finale Grand Prix… which is massive and filled with the best of the best. This year I went during week 10 instead of 12, and…
You see it in ads all the time. “Horse is a 10+ jumper” “This one is your hack winner!” “His trot is totally a 10”. Those kinds of descriptions usually describe pretty nice horses. One of my favorite things about going to WEF and watching the hunter ring, is that you don’t really hear those phrases.. you see them. You see them everywhere, because I’ve never been to a place with more nice horses in one ring. Say you’re chillin’ at…